Lorna Colbert trained as an actress and gave her youngest son, Stephen, a flair for the dramatic

Lornera is seen here with her husband James and their 11 children. Stephen is the youngest, standing just right of his mother. Stephen's brothers brothers Paul and Peter - seen middle row, center - were killed in a 1974 plane crash

Colbert took last week off from taping his comedy news show to mourn his mother, who passed away on June 12.

Colbert's father and two of his brothers were killed in a 1974 commercial plane crash in Charlotte, North Carolina, when Colbert was just 10.

'I know it may sound greedy to want more days with a person who lived so long, but the fact that my mother was 92 does not diminish, it only magnifies the enormity of the room whose doors have quietly shut,' Colbert said, struggling to maintain his composure.

Lorna was born in Larchmont, New York, in Westchester County in 1920 that same week, Colbert noted, 'as women got the right to vote.'

She met her husband James at age 12 and made her friends cross town to ride their bicycles past his house. But, she refused to even look in his window to see if he had noticed her.

Lorna grew up in Westchester County, New York, and trained as an actress before she married her husband

Lorna was born in 1920 on the same week that women in the U.S. were granted the right to vote

Colbert raised the children, but she took on many other tasks to keep her busy.

Her obituary described her as 'an accomplished artist, a church leader, a businesswoman, a supporter of the arts.'

Colbert may have inherited some of his stage presence from Lorna, who train as an actor.

'Singing and dancing was encouraged except at the dinner table,' he joked.

'She’d trained to be an actress when she was younger and she would teach us to do stage falls by pretending to faint on the kitchen floor.'

In a 2008 interview with a South Carolina TV program, she said she said Stephen was a 'fabulous, wonderful young son.'

She also said she hoped that no one took his conservative persona too seriously - because I didn't match his real personality at all.

Colbert has remained close to his family and his childhood roots in South Carolina. He campaigned for his sister, Elizabeth Colbert Bush, in her losing bid to win a special election for a South Carolina U.S. House seat this fall.

After his three and a half minute tribute, Colbert paused, looked away - and then turned back to the camera, having re-assumed his TV persona in an instant.